Complaint Review: Liberty Mutual

When is a better car replacement not a better car replacement? When it is Liberty Mutual! Liberty Mutual’s better car replacement ads claiming you’re better off with them as your auto insurance company, leading you to believe they will take care of you unlike the competition. However, before you take the ad’s claim as fact, you’d better do some homework! If you’re insured by Liberty Mutual you could be under the same belief I was, that you’re covered in case your car is totaled. After my car was totaled I was told I wasn’t paying for a better replacement endorsement, even though my premium went from $96 a month to over $200. I asked if they had a waver showing that I had rejected the endorsement and was told that it was up to me to ask for the coverage. I advised the adjustor I had never been contacted by an agent to review my insurance and that their ads are misleading. I later found out the endorsement was at a cost of 10 to 40 percent of the premium which is not disclosed in their ads. I believe it’s up to the agent to offer coverage, if you reject it; you wave it, much like when you rent a car. If you do not have the better replacement endorsement you’re going to be in shock if your car is totaled. Liberty Mutual will use their adjuster CCCone to pay you for only three wheels! Doing your homework will uncover that Liberty Mutual and its adjuster CCCone have been defendants in multiple class actions brought by multiple states and their insured over total loss claims. Even though 100’s of millions of dollars have been paid by companies including both Liberty and CCCone for this practice, Liberty and CCCone continue the same practices today. The Fifth Court of Appeals issued a decision in Slade v. Progressive No. 15-30010 Decided on May 9, 2017. In that decision the Court stated when an automobile is totaled, an insurance company must estimate the total loss value based on the average of retail values given by the National Automobile Dealers Association used car guide (NADA) or another public automobile industry source. The Court found that insurance companies’ that makes a payout based on the estimate comprised of the average of the two values given by companies like CCCone are unjust. Insurance companies act in their own best interest, are said to use sources that make this average as low as possible. These sources are often unavailable to the public, or have a monthly subscription fee. It is an unjust practice for insurers to choose certain sources that give them the information that makes the car seem worth less than it is in actuality, so as to save the insurance company money. The insurance company employees are paid to make sure that the company retains as much money as possible. I was blindsided by Liberty Mutual when my 2000 Z3 in good conduction was totaled and could not replace it with the settlement amount offered. When I informed Liberty’s senior adjustor of the amounts listed for the same car, she stated that those amounts were asking prices and could be negotiated. In reviewing CCCone’s report I found it undervalued my car’s base value, the amount credited for new tires was $19 and other values were just wrong! If you found yourself facing the same treatment, you can find me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/ernestbustos. I have been a consumer advocate for more than 37 years. I believe Liberty Mutual’s ads are deceptive and should be exposed for what they are. I believe Liberty Mutual and CCCone devised a scheme to defraud the insured whose car was deemed totaled causing documents to be mailed by USPS to secure the cars’ title for less than its true value violating USC Title 18 committing mail fraud and their employees could be seen as adding and abetting in the mail fraud. I am taking legal action against Liberty Mutual, CCCone and the agency of record. I also contacted a class action lawfirm!  

 Mad as Hell!!!